As a Nova Scotia teenager leaves his school over its handling of his contentious Christian T-shirt, the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada says it’s common for Christian students nationwide to take heat for sharing their beliefs.

William Swinimer, 19, showed up for school Monday morning wearing his yellow T-shirt with the slogan “Life is Wasted Without Jesus” — a shirt he defiantly wore after the vice principal of Forest Heights Community School in Chester Basin, N.S., told him not to, leading him to serve several detentions. On Friday, the South Shore Regional School Board said it would allow the Grade 12 student to wear the shirt when he returned from five-day suspension.

But shortly after their arrival Monday morning, John Swinimer pulled his Grade 12 son out of school, angered by the voluntary forums taking place on the topic of how students can appropriately express their beliefs.

“He will not attend this school unless they are having reading, writing and arithmetic — good old-fashioned academics,” he told reporters as he stood in front of the school. “When they’re having forums, when they’re having other extracurricular activities, he will not attend that school.”

‘He will not attend this school unless they are having reading, writing and arithmetic’

The young Swinimer said he wore the T-shirt day after day because he felt his rights to freedom of religion and expression were being violated. Students had complained to administrators that the shirt read like a judgment of their beliefs.

The national association of evangelical Christians wrote an open letter to South Shore Regional School Board on Friday, saying that despite common public perception, there are no restrictions on expression of religion in public schools.

“I know from the phone calls we receive … that similar cases are happening in schools across Canada,” said Faye Sonier, legal counsel to the Evangelical Fellowship. “We get stories from parents whose young child was disciplined in the school yard because he was talking about what he heard his pastor say in church one day and the teacher said ‘That can’t be spoken here.’ … That child was punished.”

Justin Trottier of atheist organization the Centre for Inquiry, says atheist students have also felt silenced in their schools; he blames such incidents on a “misplaced political correctness” in which unpopular views are met with silence instead of healthy debate.

“We hear all the time that they’re either not expressing their perspective in various areas of the curriculum because they feel they won’t be welcome to do so and if they do, even in a subtle way, they are made to feel a bit like second class citizens,” he said.

The Swinimers could not be reached for comment Monday, but in an interview Thursday, William Swinimer said he’d been maligned before because of his faith.

“I don’t know about other schools, but I’ve been very discriminated against because of my Christianity,” he said. “There are all kinds of religions in my school … [but] just for talking about Christianity, I’ve been called up to the office many times.”

‘I don’t know about other schools, but I’ve been very discriminated against because of my Christianity’

South Shore school board superintendent Nancy Pynch-Worthylake said students have always been allowed to share their religious views, as long as they don’t offend other students.

She said she was “disappointed” Mr. Swinimer did not return to class on Monday, adding that he was not required to attend the forums — he was simply invited. School officials tried to reach out to him over the weekend, but couldn’t make contact, she said.

Monday’s forums were facilitated by a representative from the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission, the province’s justice and education departments, school board personnel, psychologists and school staff.

There was a “good response” among students who wanted to chat in small groups about the balance between maintaining freedom of religion and expression in the school “and what the balance is in making sure in expressing those views, the individual is empathetic and respectful of others who may not agree,” Ms. Pynch-Worthylake said.

Parents and students were also invited to air their concerns at a forum to be held Monday evening.

On the school grounds Monday, student council vice-president Katelyn Hiltz told the CBC the kerfuffle is about much more than a shirt.

“It started with him preaching his religion to kids and then telling them to go to hell,” she said. “A lot of kids don’t want to deal with this anymore.”